"Nothing is more noble," says Cicero, "nothing more venerable." One of
the most beautiful tributes to an aged mother was written by Lamartine.
"The loss of a mother," he says "is always severely felt. Even though
her health may incapacitate her from taking an active part in the care
of her family, still she is a sweet rallying-point, around which
affection and obedience, and a thousand endeavors to please,
concentrate; and dreary is the blank when such a point is withdrawn! It
is like that lonely star before us; neither its heat nor light are
anything to us in themselves; yet the shepherd would feel his heart sad
if he missed it when he lifts his eye to the brow of the mountain over
which it rises when the sun descends."